38 Facts About Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev is best known for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements.

Dmitri Mendeleev used the Periodic Law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known elements, such as the valence and atomic weight of uranium, but to predict the properties of three elements that were yet to be discovered.

Dmitri Mendeleev was raised as an Orthodox Christian, his mother encouraging him to "patiently search divine and scientific truth".

Dmitri Mendeleev was the youngest of 17 siblings, of whom "only 14 stayed alive to be baptized" according to Dmitri Mendeleev's brother Pavel, meaning the others died soon after their birth.

Dmitri Mendeleev's mother was forced to work and she restarted her family's abandoned glass factory.

The now poor Dmitri Mendeleev family relocated to Saint Petersburg, where he entered the Main Pedagogical Institute in 1850.

Dmitri Mendeleev became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute and Saint Petersburg State University in 1864, and 1865, respectively.

Dmitri Mendeleev achieved tenure in 1867 at St Petersburg University and started to teach inorganic chemistry while succeeding Voskresenskii to this post; by 1871, he had transformed Saint Petersburg into an internationally recognized center for chemistry research.

Dmitri Mendeleev's proposal identified the potential for new elements such as germanium.

Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table of all known elements and predicted several new elements to complete the table in a Russian-language journal.

Dmitri Mendeleev has the distinction of accurately predicting the properties of what he called ekasilicon, ekaaluminium and ekaboron.

Dmitri Mendeleev proposed changes in the properties of some known elements.

Dmitri Mendeleev realized that these values did not fit in his periodic table, and doubled both to valence 6 and atomic weight 240.

Dmitri Mendeleev questioned some of the currently accepted atomic weights, pointing out that they did not correspond to those suggested by his Periodic Law.

Dmitri Mendeleev noted that tellurium has a higher atomic weight than iodine, but he placed them in the right order, incorrectly predicting that the accepted atomic weights at the time were at fault.

Dmitri Mendeleev was puzzled about where to put the known lanthanides, and predicted the existence of another row to the table which were the actinides which were some of the heaviest in atomic weight.

Some people dismissed Dmitri Mendeleev for predicting that there would be more elements, but he was proven to be correct when Ga and Ge were found in 1875 and 1886 respectively, fitting perfectly into the two missing spaces.

Dmitri Mendeleev was a friend and colleague of the Sanskritist Otto von Bohtlingk, who was preparing the second edition of his book on Panini at about this time, and Dmitri Mendeleev wished to honor Panini with his nomenclature.

The original draft made by Dmitri Mendeleev would be found years later and published under the name Tentative System of Elements.

Dmitri Mendeleev is often referred to as the Father of the Periodic Table.

Dmitri Mendeleev called his table or matrix, "the Periodic System".

Dmitri Mendeleev was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1892, and in 1893 he was appointed director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, a post which he occupied until his death.

Dmitri Mendeleev investigated the composition of petroleum, and helped to found the first oil refinery in Russia.

Dmitri Mendeleev recognized the importance of petroleum as a feedstock for petrochemicals.

Dmitri Mendeleev is credited with a remark that burning petroleum as a fuel "would be akin to firing up a kitchen stove with bank notes".

In 1905, Dmitri Mendeleev was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Svante Arrhenius, although not a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, had a great deal of influence in the Academy and pressed for the rejection of Dmitri Mendeleev, arguing that the periodic system was too old to acknowledge its discovery in 1906.

In 1907, Dmitri Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from influenza, just 6 days short of his 73rd birthday.

Dmitri Mendeleev worked on the theory and practice of protectionist trade and on agriculture.

Dmitri Mendeleev devoted much study and made important contributions to the determination of the nature of such indefinite compounds as solutions.

Dmitri Mendeleev is given credit for the introduction of the metric system to the Russian Empire.

Dmitri Mendeleev invented pyrocollodion, a kind of smokeless powder based on nitrocellulose.

Dmitri Mendeleev explored demographic issues, sponsored studies of the Arctic Sea, tried to measure the efficacy of chemical fertilizers, and promoted the merchant navy.

Dmitri Mendeleev was especially active in improving the Russian petroleum industry, making detailed comparisons with the more advanced industry in Pennsylvania.

Dmitri Mendeleev set up an inspection system, and introduced the metric system to Russia.

Dmitri Mendeleev debated against the scientific claims of spiritualism, arguing that metaphysical idealism was no more than ignorant superstition.

Dmitri Mendeleev bemoaned the widespread acceptance of spiritualism in Russian culture, and its negative effects on the study of science.

For example, Russian Standard vodka advertises: "In 1894, Dmitri Mendeleev, the greatest scientist in all Russia, received the decree to set the Imperial quality standard for Russian vodka and the 'Russian Standard' was born" Others cite "the highest quality of Russian vodka approved by the royal government commission headed by Mendeleev in 1894".